Wines of Sardinia

Fantastico! This word seems a bit inadequate to describe the feeling that I want to express about the wines I tasted tonight at a local Seattle wine shop called Esquin. I frequent this wine shop as they have at least two free wine tastings a week. They’re going for broke this week to provide four free tastings. So it’s going to be a marathon tasting week for us professional winos.

It’s Tuesday night. I stopped by Esquin on my way home from work for a nearly unadvertised Italian wine tasting. There was almost no one there. I had two Italian men with sexy accents pouring wine for me and about three or four other people. They were pouring larger-than-average pours. The wine Gods were with me tonight.

All of the wines were from a producer called Sella & Mosca located on an island off the coast of Italy called Sardinia. Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily and I hope to visit this beautiful island one day to experience first hand the grapes growing on the vines.
There were three whites and three reds. It was a tough decision which ones to buy since they were all delicious and they were all bargains priced between $9.00 and $17.00.

I decided on my three favorites for a total of $37.00, which isn’t a bad price considering Washington State tacks on an extra 10% state tax charge.

The first wine I bought is called La Cala which takes its name from a secluded cove on Sardinia’s northwestern coastline and is characterized by unusual purple rocks that are perpetually eroded by the sea. It’s made from an Italian grape called Vermentino and thrives under the beneficial influence of Mistral Winds. What are Mistral Winds you ask? Good question!

The mistral in France is a fresh or cold, often violent, and usually dry wind, blowing throughout the year but is most frequent in winter and spring. It blows from the northwest or north of Europe through the valley of the Rhône River to the Mediterranean. It also affects the whole of Sardinia in Italy.
The mistral and the similar north wind in France, the tramontane, usually originate with a flow of air from the northwest. A cold front associated with a low pressure area over northern Europe moves toward the east. The flow shifts to the northwest, bringing with it cold maritime air. The cool wind from the northeast dries the air and rapidly disperses the clouds. The acceleration of the wind is caused by the creation of a depression, or low-pressure area, in the Gulf of Genoa under the wind from the Alps. In this case the mistral affects the entire Rhone Valley, the inland territory of Provence and the Cote d'Azur, where the wind comes from the east. In the Languedoc area, where the tramontane is the strongest wind, the mistral and the tramontane blow together onto the Gulf of Lion and the northwest of the western Mediterranean, and can be felt to the east of the Balearic Islands, in Sardinia, and sometimes as far as the coast of Africa.
Wasn’t that fascinating? Aren’t you glad you asked?

La Cala is a wonderful, dry, white wine that has flavors of apple and pear with a crisp finish that made me think of the Mediterranean and all of the ancient sea creatures that the vines had absorbed in the process of maturing the grapes. I can’t wait to try it with seafood. The second wine I bought called Cannonau, named after the grape, is a dry, red wine. I knew I was going to love this wine the moment I stuck my nose in the glass, inhaled deeply, and smelled barnyard. Yes, you read that correctly, barnyard. Don’t knock it until you try it! It tasted similar to some of the Spanish wines I’ve had and I look forward to drinking it with some juicy, rare piece of red meat. The third and last wine I bought is another dry, red wine called Tanca Farra made from 50% cannonau grapes and 50% cabernet sauvignon grapes. I didn’t taste this one as they only had four bottles left of the 2002 but I couldn’t pass it up at $9.00 a bottle. I did taste the 2003 Tanca Farra and it was complex, robust, and sexy like a strong, Italian man hauling large baskets of grapes from the vineyard to a truck waiting to take them to a small white building resting on a hillside overlooking the Mediterranean, awaiting the grapes for crushing and fermenting, and to be sent to America for lucky winos like me to enjoy and to imagine how this wine could whisk me away, even if only temporarily, to such a wonderful place like Sardinia.

The Stats:

What: White wine - La Cala
Producer: Sella & Mosca
Vintage: 2007
Varietal: Vermentino
Alcohol by volume: 12.5%
Location: Sardinia, Italy
Cost: $12.00
Location purchased: Esquin Wine Merchants, http://www.esquin.com/ Seattle, WA

What: Red wine - Cannonau
Producer: Sella & Mosca
Vintage: Riserva 2005
Varietal: Cannonau
Alcohol by volume: 13.5%
Location: Sardinia, Italy
Cost: $13.00
Location purchased: Esquin Wine Merchants, Seattle, WA

What: Red wine – Tanca Farra
Producer: Sella & Mosca
Vintage: Alghero 2002
Varietals: 50% cannonau, 50% cabernet sauvignon
Alcohol by volume: 13%
Location: Sardinia, Italy
Cost: $9.00
Location purchased: Esquin Wine Merchants, Seattle, WA